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Quagmire

Reader comment on item: Should Israel invade Gaza?

Submitted by Fred Schlomka (Israel), Nov 21, 2006 at 14:18

Israel can no more defeat the Palestinians than it could defeat Hizbullah in Lebanon. It's the same problem the US faced in Vietnam. You can't defeat an embedded ideology with weapons unless you kill large amounts of people in a very short time. (Germany/Japan 1945 for instance).

Most of us who live in Israel agree that we need to be back at the negotiating table. Tit for tat military adventures solve nothing. Americans, Pipes included, might be better off looking at their warmongering ideology than giving bad advice to my government.

You folks in the US might have solved your 'indian problem' by crushing them (or should I say genocide?) but we like to think we're a bit more civilized. 'Light unto the Nations' and all that.

And Mr. Pipes, what makes you think that the 'will to make war' can be crushed in the Palestinians through defeat. It can't be, any more than your will to defend the USA could be crushed. Genocide would do the trick, but I don't think Israel is up for it, not yet at least.

Fred
Tel Aviv

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Daniel Pipes replies:

You misunderstand what I mean by defeat. If there is a U.S. model, it is 1975, and the erosion of American will by a much smaller North Vietnamese force. What the Vietcong did to us is roughly what Israel could do to its Palestinian and other enemies.

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Reader comments (9) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Crush the Palestinians? [37 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
mbNov 21, 2006 15:0166853
Whose land? Who are the illegal settlers? [291 words]Doron ZielinskiMar 16, 2007 06:1866853
Quagmire [183 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Fred SchlomkaNov 21, 2006 14:1866848
No, Surround it with a moat [162 words]Doron ZielinskiJul 23, 2007 19:5066848
yesterday [65 words]dfwhiteNov 17, 2006 15:5866431
1DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS... [106 words]DONVANNov 22, 2006 14:4666431
Should Child Molesters Be Left In The Elementary School Without Supervision? [76 words]skmillerNov 13, 2006 11:2765996
Yes [45 words]Octavio JohansonNov 9, 2006 17:5365691
Agree on this one [97 words]Peter EdwardssonNov 9, 2006 13:3165667

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